Born of Desperation
by spaz19892000
Summary: Annalise Cruel won't have her life dictated to her. Not by family, the Caronese government, or the man she loves. Everyone wants to make decisions for her but she'll fight for the right to make her own. She doesn't know where her life is heading but she knows what she wants, she'll die trying to get it, and she'll protect those she loves at any cost even her death. AnnaXFain
1. Prologue

**A/N: I don't own these characters. They are the work of Sherrilyn Kenyon who is a literary genius in my opinion. I just play with the characters in my head. :)**

**This idea popped into my head when I was reading Darling's book. There was a short exchange between Anna and Fain during the book. Between that and their profile on the author's site I came up with this story line. Hope you enjoy. **

* * *

Gods how she wished he knew she existed. Well, maybe that wasn't the right wording. He of course knew she existed. They traded pleasantries every time they encountered one another. They had even had a hand full of meaningful conversations over the years.

That was all fine and dandy, but what she wanted, what she really wanted was for him to notice her as a woman. She almost laughed out loud at the thought, which since she was in a library would not have been good.

She didn't know if it was because their brothers were friends or the age difference. But whatever the reason he didn't notice her.

She had tried everything she could think and none of it worked. She was a princess damn it that alone drew men to her. But not this one. Of course not, that would have been easy.

For someone who found that almost everything she did came easily to her that was a huge blow to the ego. But not so much as to cause her to lose hope. She was not the type to give up without fight when there was something she wanted. And she Annalise Cruel wanted Fain Hauk, badly.


	2. Chapter 1

Fain dropped himself into the chair between Ryn and Dancer. Reaching over he grabbed his brother's coffee cup. With two giant gulps he finished the drink.

"You do realize that I had made that for me right?"

Fain arched an eyebrow at Dancer. "Share and share alike with family." Smiling at his little brother Fain turned back to Darling sitting in front of them. "What am I doing here of great and unstable emperor?" At that Ryn punched his arm. "What?" At Ryn's expression Fain waved him off. "He knows I'm kidding. I mean fuck want to talk about pot and kettle. I framed the paper that says I'm certifiable."

Darling laughed and looked to Hauk. "Did he really?"

"What do you think?"

Darling just shook his head before talking to Fain. "You're here because I need someone to track down Lise and everyone else is otherwise tied up."

"I already have a sibling that requires an ungodly amount of supervision. Why would I take one of yours?"

"Wherever she is she's completely dark. Not even Syn can track her down." Darling sighed. "She's up to something and she doesn't want us to know about it."

"She's just testing her limits Darling." Zarya said as she laid a hand on her husband's shoulder. Darling covered it with his own. "Everyone does it at some point or another."

"I agree with the pregnant lady." Fain smiled knowing that his friend's wife hated being referred by anything other than her name.

"You only say that because you don't want to go after her." She waved a finger at him. "And one more time and I'll kick you again."

"I did nothing, I said nothing." He fiend innocence. "All right as a favor to the two of you." He indicated Darling and Ryn. "I will drag her home. I suppose breathing is required on her part?" He sighed dramatically.

Darling chuckled. "Yeah it is. Thanks though man I owe you one for this."

Fain waved him off. "Not after making sure I was here for that joke on Dancer. Which reminds me I have to get the vid of that off Syn or Nykyrian."

"You knew about that?" Dancer all but yelled at him.

"Damn right. Who do you think gave him the idea of where to put the thing?" Fain laughed.

"I hate you."

"No you don't." Fain turned to Darling when he reached the door. "I'll let you know when I find her." At Darling's nod he left.

* * *

**Three Months Later**

* * *

**ANNA'S POV**

She took a deep breath and tried not to feel too lonely. Leaning against the locked door she closed her eyes. Maybe it had been the wrong thing to do when she ran. But she couldn't let Darling deal with the coming baby and now her issues. He had enough to deal with and Annalise refused to be a burden to him any longer. Sighing she pushed away from the door and activated her message playback. The first two she skipped over were from Darling, the next three were from Sorche, two from Drake, one from Maris, one from Zarya, one from Ryn, but it was the last one that gave her pause.

"I swear to the gods Annalise I am going to wring you're fucking neck when I find you. And I know that you know everyone wants you home. If you wanted me to believe you weren't checking your link you might not want to empty your mailbox. Unless you want make it worse when I find you, you'd had better call me when you get this. You won't like what happens if you don't."

Annalise smiled. Every day for about the last three months he had been leaving the same message for her. And she knew he had a point when it came to emptying her mailbox, but if she emptied it he'd call her. Really she couldn't think of a good to not empty it. She giggled as she hit the empty button.

One day he might catch up to her, but until that happened she'd enjoy his messages. Suddenly her link began buzzing; starring at it she let it go to her voice mail.

"This is new princess, clearing the inbox in the middle of the day. You should be proud of yourself; you've had me on the run for three months now. That's impressive. You are more resourceful than I originally gave you credit for. But I think there's more desperation driving you. Something scared you or you would have grabbed more than the few sentimental mementos you did take."

She heard him chuckle. "I never told you I searched your dorm did I? Did that about a month after starting to look for you. Thought maybe there'd be a clue to where you went. But it's what you're roommate said was missing that was most telling. Things you could always keep on you from your brothers and your friends. Things that would always remind you you're loved."

Annalise stared at the machine. _How in the hell did he know that?_

"All of that tells me your running from something. That you've separated yourself from those who would help you to protect them." Just then he paused and she heard the regular noises of her favourite area in the downtown market.

He was here, he'd found her. Running down the hall to her bedroom she had never in three months been so happy to live out of a suitcase never unpacking. She threw the handful of items not already in her bag in and then moved back to the front.

Grabbing her electronics she shoved them into a backpack and left the apartment. She used the secret staircase she had found the other day and made her way out onto the street. She just made it into the crowd to watch Fain enter her building. Thankful for the wig and the temporary "cosmetic enhancements" she hadn't had time to remove. She blended into the crowd and moved on for what felt like the hundredth time that month when the only thing she wanted to do was run to Fain and let him hold her.


	3. Chapter 2

Fain cursed as he went through the apartment a second time, she wasn't there. The only thing he knew for sure was that she hadn't left too long ago. The answering machine was gone when he got here and he had been using it about ten minutes before entering to leave a message.

So given that he'd spent ten minutes searching the place, she had at most a twenty minute head start. "Dammit." He yelled as he hit the counter with his fist. It had taken him three months to work out what alias she was using which had then allowed him to track her here. With any luck, and he wasn't known to have a whole hell of a lot of that, she didn't know how he'd found her; which meant he should have a chance at finding her soon again.

* * *

_**TWO WEEKS LATER**_

* * *

Anna was down in the market when it all went to shit. She had just been about to pay for her groceries when she heard the one sentence she'd been dreading.

"There she is."

Anna turned toward the voice to see three heavily armed men coming toward her, one pointing at her still. She didn't stick around to reason with them. She took off hoping she knew this city better than them.

She ducked in and out of alley after alley at a speed she didn't even know she was capable of. Finally making it to her building she took the stairs all the way to her 13th floor two at a time.

Anna ran into her apartment. They were behind her but close enough that they'd find the apartment. if she was in here when they got in she was as good as dead. Not really looking where she was going she ran down the hall toward the bedroom. Without warning she ran into a hard body halfway to the bedroom.

She had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming as two hands gripped her upper arms to steady her. She knew this was it but she refused to allow them to see her fear. What shocked her most was the voice that came from the man holding her.

"Gotcha."

Anna's head snapped up stunned. Not the bad guys holding her but rather Fain. And that terrified her more than getting caught. She didn't want him here when they got here. He would most likely be hurt because of her and she'd rather hand herself over to they and the will of their boss than see Fain hurt.

"You have to go. You can't be here. You have to get out of here, now." She said while trying to push him out the door.

"What the hell? We are both going, I'm taking you home."

"No, I can't go with you and I can't go home. I'm – it's just not going to happen. I need you to go. You have to go now."

When Anna went to move around him Fain grabbed her wrist. "I was right wasn't I? Someone's after you aren't they?"

"Please Fain, just leave, like you never found me. Just turn around and walk out that door. I won't see you hurt because of me. I won't."

This time he pulled her to him when she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Just when he was undoubtedly going to ask questions there was noise outside the door, the sound of someone hacking the door system.

As he pulled a blaster he pushed her toward the bedroom. "Go pack up everything. Then hide in the closet, until I come for you."

She nodded and ran to do what he said. After packing her things Anna hid in the closet and tried to ignore the sounds of a fight in the other room. When the sound of fighting stopped there was silence for some time before the sound of his voice.

"Anna come on out." At the sound of his voice Anna reached for the door. But she stopped when the tone of his voice finally filtered through her brain. It was almost gentle, something that Fain very very rarely ever was. What if they had captured him and were using him to lure her out. While she hesitated she heard his angry footsteps down the hall.

'Dammit Annalise get out here."

At that angry familiar tone she ran out of the closet and nearly plowed into him.


	4. Chapter 3

Anna allowed Fain to take her bag from her hands before he grabbed her elbow gently but in an unbreakable grip and led her from the apartment. He took the stairs dragging her behind him, still carrying a blaster in the hand with the bag. They were about to head out into the street when Anna stopped.

Her stop was so abrupt that it tore her hand from Fain's. It took him a second to realize she had stopped and turn around to her. By then Anna was trembling. He stomped back over but softened his face and gait when he noticed her violent shaking.

Putting his finger under her chin he forced her to look at him. "Hey, what's up?" He asked.

"What if there's more of them?" She asked her voice shaking, looking him in the eye. "What if they had others outside waiting for them?"

"I won't let them touch you Anna. I've been chasing you for almost a year now, and I'm not about to lose." Fain held out a hand to her. "Trust me." It wasn't a question or a demand it was almost a plea or so it sounded to Anna. Nodding she put her hand in his. "I do trust you."

Nodding once Fain squeezed her hand gently. "Come on, we have to make it to my ship. Let's go." With that they left the building.

Once they boarded Fain led Anna to the control room. He pointed out a seat telling her to strap in. She did as he went to the pilot's seat to do the same. Within 20 minutes they were clear of the planet and Fain engaged the autopilot. Unbuckling himself he spoke.

"This course will take us safely away from the planet and toward Tavali space. We won't go anywhere near Caronese territory until I figure this out. Come on to the kitchen and let's get some food into you."

As she stood she shook her head. "No food, I'm not hungry and I'm not entirely sure I could keep it down even if I was. But I would do just about anything for a coffee."

Nodding he led the way. When they entered the kitchen Fain spoke again. "Go sit down, I'll bring you a cup."

Fain came to the table a few minutes later and set a hot cup of coffee perfectly doctored in front of her. "Thanks." She whispered so softly he would have almost missed it if he hadn't been paying attention.

"What's going on Anna?" He asked after sitting across from her with his own coffee.

Anna starred at the cup in her hands, Fain almost believed that she hadn't heard him until she spoke. "There's an ambious Gerent at court. He has his eye on the throne. He believes if he marries me he can get it. I overheard his plan. He intends to marry me, kill Darling, cozy up to Drake, convince him to name him successor and then he'll kill Drake too."

"He knows that Darling won't force me into marriage. So he came to me and demanded I go to Darling and profess my love for him and ask for permission to marry him." For reason Fain didn't want to acknowledge that pissed him off to a level he didn't even know possible. "I turned him down telling him I knew what he wanted to do. That's when he said he'd go after Zaryn, the baby, and Scorche. He threatened Kasen too unless I agreed. He also said that he had seen the way I'd looked at you and that he'd kill you too. He gave me twenty-four hours to go to my brother."

"So I did the only thing I could. I sent an anonymous letter to Darling telling him only about the threat to Zaryn, the baby, Scorche, and Kasen. I sent the same one to Nykyrian, Syn, Jayne, Caillen, and Shahara. I also sent one to Dancer but added the information about the threat against you."

"That explains the cryptic warning he keeps giving me."

Anna nodded. "Once I was sure they had read them I left." Fain was about the asking the burning question about how she looked at him when Anna keep going. "That's the whole story. I'm tired now I'm heading to bed." Without looking at him she stood and left the room. Having had been on the ship many times since they had met she knew which room to take.

Fain watched Anna leave. She seemed so defeated, disheartened, and just so depressed it shocked him. He couldn't reconcile this Anna with the Anna he had seen just a month before she had disappeared.

When he'd last seen her she'd been the vibrant, happy, laughing person he'd come to expect her to be over the years; this new Anna was just a shell of that other girl.

He contemplated calling Darling, he was after all her brother and the reason he was here with her to begin with. But he decided against the thought as quickly as he had come up with it. He told himself it was just that he didn't was to put Anna in danger. That it was because putting her in danger put Darling in danger and if he was in danger Dancer would put himself in danger to protect his friend. Fear for his brother that was the real reason he was feeling what he was feeling.

Right, it was the fear of his brother being hurt or killed that made is feel like there was a vice around his chest. Sighing he put his head in his hands.

Who was he trying to kid? He cared about her. More than he should, more than he had a right to and for a hell of a lot longer than he'd thought now that he looked back at things. Somehow that little slip of a woman had scaled the walls he had long ago sealed himself behind and had managed to carve out a place for herself in his heart. Shaking his head he got up and went to his own room. He wasn't going to think about it, he wasn't going to let on, what he was going to do was find a way to make her safe and then take her back to her family and her life.

Fain sat bolt upright with his blaster pointed to the door. There was nothing there but Fain knew something had woken him up and it was something more than his nightmares. It was then that the high pitched female screams registered in his sleep fogged brain. _Anna!_ He thought as he jumped from the bed and ran for the door.

Fain opened the door across the hall from his room to find Anna thrashing around screaming out the word 'no' and his name. As he ran to sit beside her on the bed he also noted she was crying. Gently he grabbed her wrists to still her before she got hurt if she wasn't already.

"Anna, come on you need to wake up." He shook her wrists lightly. "It's just a dream Anna. It's not real whatever it is. It's just a dream." He shook her a little harder and with a gasp her eyes flew open.

She blinked a few times before her eyes found his. "Fain?" She asked. He managed a nod before she threw her arms around his neck.

Letting her bury her face in his neck he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed circles over her back. He didn't know much about giving comfort but for this woman he'd try.

"It was just a dream. You're okay, you're safe now." He whispered fighting the urge to kiss her cheek to reassure both of them she was here and safe.

"It wasn't just a dream, it was a fucking nightmare." She squeezed her arm a little tighter around his neck. "I was tied to a chair. My wrists tied to the arms, my ankles to the legs, and there was a rope tying my hips and another holding my shoulders to the back of the chair."

Anna took a deep breath. "Then he signaled to his men and they dragged you in with your hands tied. He held a knife to my throat and threatened to slice it if you fought. His men pushed you so that you knelt in front of him." Fain didn't need to ask who 'him' was, he was positive that it was the man chasing her.

"And then – and then he stabbed you in the chest. 'Not in the heart' he said. 'Too quick of a bleed out' he said. And he moved behind me gripped each side of my face and forced me to look into your eyes as you bled to death."

"Hey." He pushed her back a little to look her in the eye. "You're here and you're safe. I'm here and safe. He doesn't know where we are." He gave in to his urge and finally kissed her forehead. "Go back to sleep." Gently he pushed her to lie back down.

When he went to release her shoulders Anna grabbed both his wrist. "I don't want to be alone right now. Hold me until I at least fall asleep?" She asked in a barely audible whisper.

Nodding before he could think better of it he moved to lie beside her and she cuddled into his side. Fain tried to fight it but sleep over took him shortly after her. He drifted off thinking that it easily the stupidest and yet the best decision he had ever made.


	5. Chapter 4

Anna came awake to being alone in the bed. She knew he had stayed the night because she had woken several times to find herself in his arms. Smiling she showered, dressed and made her way to the kitchen.

There she found him starring at his computer with a cup of coffee. "Is there coffee left for me?" She asked.

Without looking up he nodded. "There's a craft on the counter and the computer has almost everything you can imagine for breakfast. Help yourself."

"Thank-you." She went to the counter and doctored her coffee before asking the computer for a simple omelette and toast. She took her coffee and breakfast to the table. "Have you told my brother you found me yet?"

He looked at her. "No, not yet."

"Thank-you." She said before biting her toast.

"I should probably tell him. But there's the chance he'll demand you come home if we tell him the truth and you in the palace may be more dangerous for all of you." He reasoned.

"I'm sorry that I pulled you into this." Anna bowed her head.

"It's my decision and we'll figure this out together. You're not in this alone anymore."

Anna nodded daring to hope that things might just turn out okay.

* * *

_**Six Months Later**_

* * *

Six months being on that ship together hadn't been that bad. Anna smiled as they disembarked at yet another nondescript planet. They had stopped at many places like this over the months.

They had also done a lot of talking and Anna thought they could actually be considered friends. Friends, a relationship sure, which is more than they had before she had left, but not the relationship she wanted from him. She loved him, she had suspected it before but she knew it now. The last few months of hiding had made it clear to her that he was her future, her whole future. She just had to make him see that.

As they left the hanger Fain turned to her. "You probably could use more cloths. Those are almost threadbare." He handed her his card. "Go get whatever you want and meet me back here in an hour."

Nodding she took the card and thanked him. A half an hour later she was done, having stowed all her purchases in her backpack. A trick Fain had taught her, always shop with a rucksack, so if you have to run you don't have to leave things behind. Shouldering her bag she went to the meeting place but the person waiting there wasn't Fain, it was Marsden.

How had he found them? She thought before she turned to run. But one of his men had already moved behind her. He turned her back around and pushed her to Marsden.

"You have seriously pissed me off bitch." He snarled. "Over a year you have lead me on a wild goose chase, but not anymore. You will do what I tell you and you will tell your brother you want to marry me."

"I would rather have leeches suck me to death then go anywhere near you, let alone marry you."

Without warning he back handed her. The force was so hard it snapped her head to the side. Suddenly the hands holding her vanished and then Fain appeared with a blaster to Marsden's head.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right here right now." Fain growled.

"I'm a gerent." He replied affronted.

"I'm not Caronese. Try again."

Marsden blinked and then seemed to recognize Fain. "Oh this is rich. You are protecting the girl with a crush on you. You only want her for the same reasons as me, to get power through her brothers."

The unmistaken sound of the blaster preparing to fire filled the silence. Anna reached forward with her free hand and shackled one of Fain's wrists.

"Please Fain think. Someone might see you. You could be arrested." She pleaded.

Fain starred into her eyes for a few minutes and as he starred at her he came to a realization. Six months of living with her and he'd fallen in love with her. Well that was an unexpected turn of events. Not that it mattered right now, what mattered now was getting her away from this guy and back to the ship. Tearing his eyes from hers he turned back to the gerent. He switched his blaster to stun and pulled the trigger.

"Come on." Anna spoke again once the other man had hit the floor. "We need to get back to the ship and get the hell off this planet. He rarely travels with less than five guards and those men have no problem with a fight where the odds are six of them against one of you."

At that point Anna was tugging him down the alley to a less crowded side street, and he was letting her.

"You didn't ask me if I killed him." Fain commented as he followed her. His emotions were currently in chaos. He was shocked at his earlier realization, confused at her need to protect him after she had just witness him shoot someone, and angry at the world and his life that he would never have her or tell her how he felt about her. If asked though he would say it was the second one that made him incapable of leading her away.

Anna turned to look at him over her shoulder and she smiled. "I don't have to. I saw you change the setting on your blaster. Besides even if you had killed him, I trust you." Turning back around she continued on weaving them through the crowd back inside the hanger. She was more observant than he gave her credit for apparently.

Once they were in the air and auto pilot had been engaged Fain went to where Anna sat. He knelt in front of her and examined her cheek.

"How bad does it hurt?" He asked gently as he rubbed a thumb over her cheek bone. After the realization he had in that alley he knew he shouldn't be this close but he couldn't move.

"Just a little sore." She said quietly with a small smile. "Just like a bruise. I'll live anyway." Sighing she stood. "But I am going to lie down though. Almost being kidnapped is scary and draining."

With that she made to leave the room and head for the bedroom she was using. But before she left he wanted to get something straight with her.

"Anna?" When she turned he continued. "I would have come for you had your brothers been the poorest beings in the universe. I'm not helping for power or money." He didn't want to examine why but it was important she know that.

Anna gave him a crocked grin. "You wouldn't be the first or frankly the last if you were. But thanks." With that she turned and left.


	6. Chapter 5

While Anna was in her room Fain remained in the bridge. At least he assumed she was in her room. She had never come back and in truth he was trying avoid her until he had his emotions under control. Or at least buried so deep he could remain around her and not doing or saying anything that would give him away.

Sometime later Fain found Anna in the kitchen cooking. "Didn't know you could cook." He commented sitting down at the table.

Without looking up Anna laughed. "I've spent some time with Kasen the last few years. She taught me. I find it relaxing almost comforting for me."

"Far be it for me to turn down a pretty cook." He realized what he said as soon as he heard it leave his lips. It might be harder than he originally assumed to be indifferent to her on the outside. He cleared his throat and added. "Besides if Kasen taught you it'll be good."

"She is a wizard in the kitchen yes." Anna didn't look up from what she was doing. But Fain knew her well enough to know that didn't mean she had missed what he said. "Speaking of Kasen I got an email from her earlier."

"No."

Anna turned to look at him. "You don't even know what she said in the email."

"Sure I do. She needs help because she got herself up the creek and can't find her paddle." Fain smirked when the expression on Anna's face told him he was right. "Need I remind you that the last person who went to help her ended up on the executioner's block. You do remember when Caillen almost died don't you?"

"She's not in trouble. She's got a job but not a whole crew she trusts with it. It's a search and rescue, a mother and her four kids. Her husband contracted Kase directly since she's done runs for his business before. He has reason to believe that his competitors have his family as blackmail to get him out of the way." She took a deep breath and continued. "Where are we setting down next?" She asked.

"Triliana, why?" He asked suddenly suspicious.

"Because I'm going to email her back and tell her to meet me there. She promised not to tell Darling where I was. I'll do this job and then go on my merry way again."

Fain starred at her as she went back to her chopping as if what she had just said was as mundane as the weather report. It took a full five minutes before he could speak again.

"Not. Happening." He finally gritted out.

Anna turned to face him. "Excuse me."

"You heard me. You are not going to go help Kasen and then just disappear. It's not happening."

"Then what do you suggest I do?" Anna growled as she put the chopped vegetables in the pot. "That family needs her help and in order to help them she needs my help. So please tell me what I should do."

"You should be quiet for a minute so that I can think." He growled. A few minutes of total silence passed before he spoke again. "_We'll_ meet Kasen at Triliana. _We_ will go from there on her ship. When the job is done _we'll_ have her take _us_ back to Triliana where _we_ will get back on here and figure out what to do." He sighed, feeling a sense of foreboding with his decision.

Anna nodded. "Dinner needs to cook for a bit. I'll go email her back and tell her. I'll remind her not to tell anyone we're with her. When should I tell her to be there by?" Anna asked in an almost business like tone.

"Tell her we'll be there in twelve hours. And Anna?" He added as she started to leave. "I meant what I said that night I brought onboard. You're not in this alone, so no disappearing acts okay?" Anna nodded before leaving the room.

Fain was still in his seat when she returned half an hour later. "Dinner should be about done." She said as she placed a tablet in front of him before she headed to the stove. "Kasen said she'd make it there in eight hours. That she'd meet us in the hanger when we land. That opened document has all the details she has on every crew member who will be onboard for this one. It also has every detail she has on the client and the people believed to have his family."

"There's almost fifty pages of information you already read it all?" He asked looking at her.

"No." She said as she dished out what looked like stew. "I didn't need to. I already know the crew. I only had to read the stuff on the client. Kasen sent the other stuff because she thought you'd want it." Anna brought the bowls to the table. "Might as well read it while you eat."

Fain nodded before devoting all his attention to the tablet. Sometime later Anna was startled by Fain's voice. "Chert Raps."

Anna nodded. "Human, no fixed address, save for his or Kasen's ships, 33 years old, purple hair which is dyed, and blue eyes."

Fain looked at her and Anna knew what had led him to speak out. "Says here dating Anna Cruel."

"It does." Not really paying attention, like she said before she knew all of the information on the crew.

"SO you're sleeping with him?"

"WHAT!" Anna exclaimed, her head snapping up to look at him. "Good Gods no."

"Anna."

"He's married, happily, his wife is also part of Kase's crew. We put down that he was dating me so Kase could justify putting his room by mine."

Fain raised an eyebrow. "Why the secret spy stuff?"

"Because at the time her older brother was Kasen's boyfriend and on board a lot. As far as I know a month before he and Kasen broke up they came clean. My guess is Kasen just hasn't changed the file yet."

"That's a hell of a thing to do for a friend." Fain said shocked, there was a chance the crew would think she was sleeping with him instead of his wife, it was not a reputation a princess should have.

"Yeah well I'm not the spoiled bratty diva bitch my brothers and everyone else think I am." Anna spat back at him.

"I never thought you were." At Anna's raised eyebrow he put up his hands in surrender. "Bratty maybe, spoiled a little but that's mostly your brothers' fault, but the diva bitch part? You always played that perfectly, too perfectly. I never bought it."

"You are probably the only one who knows me who thinks so. Aside from Scorche and Kasen." Anna mumbles starring at her food.

"Sometimes our defenses defend us to well and isolate us." He commented softly.

Anna just looked at him for a second. She opened her mouth to say something then closed it. A second try and she managed to speak. "Want more food?"

"Sure." He said pushing his bowl to her. "I meant to ask earlier but were able to get enough cloths before our friends showed up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well your pack didn't look like it had hardly anything in it when we boarded."

Anna laughed. "I have a knack for packing things really small. Besides I didn't want to charge a lot to your card." At Fain's thoughtful expression she chuckled again.

"Anyway if I run out Kasen and I are the size. And the woman has a wardrobe twice the size of your average person. I'll share with her if need be. It wouldn't be the first time."

Without effort his mind automatically began putting Anna in some of the more revealing outfits he'd seen Kasen in over the years. His mouth went dry. _Not supposed to be thinking about her in any way other than the younger sister of a couple of your friends idiot._ He mentally yelled at himself. But the mental reprimand didn't erase the image from his mind.

"Fain?"

"Sorry, what did you say?" He mentally shook his head.

"I asked if you'd be alright sharing quarters with a crew that size." She said with a look that told him she was trying to figure out what he had been thinking.

He shrugged. "Kasen's ship is big enough to be comfortable with this amount of people. Besides I'll be telling her that you and I will be sharing a room."

Anna blushed and looked away. "I, um, already did. I told her I'd been having nightmares and where you're used to it another roommate might not be."

Fain nodded. "I'm going to go pack. You might want to get some rest." He was proud of how indifferent his tone was and how he didn't let his concern show.

"I will, but I just want to pack up the rest of this soup first." She smiled at him. "Kasen's crew is a bottomless pit. This will all get eaten."

With a final nod Fain left. He was going to split his time tonight between packing and finding ways to not have the feelings he had for Anna. She was everything right and bright in the world and she deserved a man who could give her everything. He could give her nothing, so regardless of his feelings for her they were one more thing in Fain's life that would never be.

Because really, princesses don't fall for pirates anyway.


End file.
